From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”— which means,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (27:45-46).
This cry of Jesus may be the most desolate cry ever uttered. Who can begin to plumb the depths of its significance or feel the weight of its sorrow? Some of the people who actually heard it didn’t understand it. They thought Jesus was calling for Elijah, but he wasn’t. When he cried, “Eloi, Eloi,” he was calling out to El, the Mighty One. El is one of the Hebrew names for God, and it means “Mighty One” or “Strong One.”
But the form of the word is not just El, but Eloi, which means, “My God.” Jesus was not crying out to some impersonal deity, but to his God, his own Father.
It is beyond me to grasp how Jesus, who was God in human flesh, could cry out to God in heaven. How is it possible for God to cry out to God?
Martin Luther once plunged himself into an extended study of this enigmatic phrase, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Luther wondered about this part of the Savior’s suffering. He fasted and prayed as he contemplated it. On one occasion he sat still in his chair for hours seeking some light on the subject. Finally, he stood up and, weary from his effort, cried out in amazement, “God forsaken by God! Who can understand it!”
I also ask, “Who indeed can grasp it?” Holy God in heaven, hurting God on earth; omniscient God in heaven, questioning God on earth; sympathizing God in heaven, suffering God on earth—and yet they are one God! It is mystery most profound. I cannot explain it. I do not understand it.
What I cannot understand, however, I can accept as truth. I can’t explain it, but I believe it, and my life is filled with hope. Faith brings light from darkness. I believe what the Bible says, that Jesus, God in human flesh, suffered in my stead on the cross.
I believe that God the Father, who sympathized deeply with God the Son, still let him die. I believe that for the time when Jesus was on the cross, God the Father really did “forsake” his beloved Son. Upon the Son had been laid all the sins of humanity, and God the Father, God the Holy, could not look upon such a sight. He turned his face away and allowed the Son to suffer and die.
And I believe he did it because of his love for you and me. God is forsaken by God for our benefit. What amazing love!